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From the section

Guide to Pronunciation Symbols

This list contains the main sounds of standard British English (the version that’s associated with southern England, sometimes called Received Pronunciation). The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols appear on my Web pages; the text equivalents were for the plain-text versions of my weekly e-mail newsletters.

With minor changes, the IPA scheme is that of the Oxford English Dictionary, Collins Dictionaries and the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, while the text symbols are those of the European SAMPA scheme, with minor changes to aid comprehension by non-linguists.

Consonants

The following letters have their usual values in English:

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, z.

IPA Text Examples IPA Text Examples
ɡ g get, go, guard tʃ tS chip, chin, nature
dʒ dZ judge, soldier x x Scots loch
ŋ N sing, ring, finger θ T thin, thick, strength
ð D then, bathe, lather ʃ S she, sugar, machine
ʒ Z pleasure, vision j j yet, use, beauty

Short vowels

IPA Text Examples IPA Text Examples
æ a cat, bad, trap ɛ e bed, net, dress
ə @ about, comma ɪ I kit, bid, hymn
i i happy, glorious ɒ Q hot, odd, wash
ʌ V dug, run, strut ʊ U book, put, foot

Long vowels

IPA Text Examples IPA Text Examples
ɑː A: cart, arm, father iː i: meet, see, fleece
ɜː 3: her, nurse, learn uː u: boot, too, group
ɔː O: port, saw, thaw

Diphthongs/triphthongs

IPA Text Examples IPA Text Examples
aɪ aI bite, my, price aʊ aU brow, how, mouth
eɪ eI fate, day, break əʊ @U goat, show, no
ɪə I@ pier, near, weary ɔɪ OI boil, choice, boy
ʊə U@ tour, cure, jury eə e@ hair, dare, various
aʊə aU@ sour, cower, flour aɪə aI@ fire, buyer, liar

Other symbols

IPA Text Purpose
ˈ ’ Precedes the syllable which has the primary stress
ˌ , Precedes a syllable which has a secondary stress
( ) ( ) Surround an optional sound
ʔ ? Glottal stop

Some French vowel sounds

IPA Text Examples IPA Text Examples
ø 2 jeu ɔ O bottes, bol
œ 9 oeuf, soeur y y sucre, tu
ɑ̃ a~ banque, sans ɛ̃ e~ cinq, saint
ɔ̃ o~ bonbons, son œ̃ 9~ un, lundi, brun